Steve Jobs is too popular to be shown in Samsung-Apple trial

Steve Jobs is still so popular, eight months after his death, that to mention him too frequently would bias jurors in a Samsung-Apple lawsuit.

At least, that’s what Samsung thinks.

According to Reuters, a Samsung attorney told a San Jose judge that excessive use of Steve Jobs’ image was “prejudicial” and that he didn’t want jurors to see 15 pictures of the former Apple chief executive.

“It shouldn’t be a popularity contest,” the lawyer said.

Above: Steve Job’s biography – #48 on Amazon

Image Credit: Amazon

Steve Jobs is extremely well-known and popular, of course. A Google search for his name turns up an astounding 487 million results. He is the iconic former CEO of two great U.S. corporations, Apple and Pixar, in a legal fight against a Korean competitor in a California court.

And he’s the chief executive who was most responsible for bringing Apple back from the brink of oblivion with a value of only $5 billion in 2000, to the most valuable company on the planet today with a market capitalization of $572 billion.

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In addition, Steve Jobs’ authorized biography by Walter Isaacson is still ranked #48 at Amazon, having been on the top 100 books sold list for an astounding 332 days.

Whether that all adds up to unduly influencing the jury, who knows.

Steve Jobs’ words were potentially actually harmful to Apple’s case in previous lawsuits — Samsung wanted to bring his “thermonuclear warfare” comments, referring to Android, into evidence. Obviously they believed in that case Steve Jobs would help them.